Education union removes, sues librarian for posts on X
A Clark County School District librarian is being sued by the Clark County Education Association for her posts on X accusing one of the union’s leaders of being a child molester, which the CCEA says are false and defamatory. She also has been expelled from the union.
The lawsuit was filed on June 28 by the CCEA as well as John Vellardita, the president of the association, and James Frazee, the former vice president, against Nicole Beer, a librarian at Reynaldo Martinez Elementary School and former member of CCEA.
The union accused Beer of making multiple false and defamatory statements against Frazee and Vellardita on her X account, “@Beerlibraries.” Her posts accuse Frazee of being a child molester and Vellardita, whom she often refers to as JV according to the complaint, of supporting a child molester.
The complaint makes 10 claims of relief and asks for damages in excess of $15,000.
Neither Vellardita nor Frazee responded to requests for comment. The law firm representing them, Snell and Wilmer L.L.P., declined to comment.
The complaint lists several of Beer’s posts on X, where she is an outspoken advocate against book banning — her profile picture reads “I’m with banned.” In her bio, she describes herself as a “Fierce library and public education advocate. I believe a quality public education is the great equalizer.”
An April 27 post reads: “JV advocated for a child molester to be in CCEA leadership, death can’t come soon enough,” according to the complaint.
On June 3, she said on X she was counting the days until she could drop her CCEA membership, the complaint said.
“I long for the day when CCEA is a union and not a playground for JV and pedo Frazee,” the post reads, according to the complaint.
She replied to her own post the next day, writing “I waited for media for four months to run the story on Frazee beating a bare naked student on his a—. Not only did JV cover it up, he wanted Jimmy as VP to control the board,” the complaint said.
The complaint states that Frazee is “highly regarded” by students and colleagues, and has never engaged in an act of sexual misconduct or physically abused a student, nor has he been accused of such.
Frazee has been an educator in Clark County for 19 years and is a social studies teacher at Centennial High School, according to the complaint. He has held various CCEA leadership positions since 2013, and was elected vice president and began his term on Aug. 4, 2020. His term ended on June 3.
As a result of Beer’s posts, the complaint alleges that Frazee and Vellardita, who are both parties in the lawsuit, experienced reputational injury and shame, mortification and hurt feelings.
Expulsion
In addition to the lawsuit, Beer was expelled from the union in an Aug. 29 hearing, according to an email Beer said was sent to her by Review Board Chairperson Cheri Griggs. In a unanimous vote, the email states, the Review Board “recommended the expulsion of member Nicole Beer.”
The hearing considered a petition from 10 current CCEA members, according to the email provided to the Review-Journal by Beer.
The petition, brought forth by CCEA member Elizabeth Adler, called Beer’s remarks libelous and said that her accusations against Frazee “were constant and harassing on a social platform which is followed by many local, state and national entities which also exposes all of the members to violent and vicious attacks.”
The petition, also sent to the Review-Journal by Beer, lists several of the same X posts as the lawsuit, as well as additional posts such as a June 19 post in which Beer said she was awaiting Vellardita’s death for covering up three pedophiles.
Beer was not present at the hearing, but the hearing proceeded because “good cause did not exist for Ms. Beer’s absence,” according to the email she said Griggs sent her.
Beer told the Review-Journal she had a mandatory back-to-school meeting at that time.
“I think it’s kind of ironic,” she said.
She did not submit any written response.
Doesn’t deny posts
Beer is a longtime CCEA member, and she said Vellardita offered her a staff position in 2019, though she declined because she would not be able to speak out against it.
“I am union through and through, and this has taken an extreme toll on myself to no longer be affiliated with my collective bargaining. I believe them to be without a soul,” she said.
She said she does not deny any of the posts. Beer declined to comment on the lawsuit. The law firm representing her, McLetchie Law, did not respond to request for comment.
In Beer’s response to the complaint, filed on Aug. 29, she argued that the publication of her posts was privileged.
Her response states that she “non-negligently believed in the truth of her communications.”
It also stated that she was immune from liability.
“A person who engages in a good faith communication in furtherance of the right to petition or the right to free speech in direct connection with an issue of public concern is immune from any civil action for claims based upon the communication,” the response reads.
Both parties asked for a jury trial, according to court documents.
Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com.